Ravens awarded No. 8 seed in East Regional

RINDGE, N.H. (April 25, 2002) - The Franklin Pierce men's tennis team has earned its first NCAA Tournament berth in program history. The announcement was made today by the NCAA Championships Committee.

Franklin Pierce, the No. 4 seed in one of two East Regionals, will travel to top-seeded Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pa., on May 3-4. Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., was awarded a No. 1 seed and will host the other East Regional.

"I'm happy for the players that we received this invitation," said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Chet Porowski. "We worked hard to put ourselves in this position and I'm glad for the guys because they earned their way into the Tournament."

The Ravens are making their first-ever appearance in an NCAA Tournament as a team. The program's only other foray into the NCAA Tournament came as former standout Mehdi Belhassan received three-straight individual invitations from 1992-94, advancing to the National Quarterfinals in 1994.

Franklin Pierce will face top-seeded Kutztown on Friday, May 3, at 2 p.m. Their battle follows a match between No. 2 Millersville University and No. 3 Concordia (N.Y.) University at 10 a.m. The winners will square off on Saturday, May 4, at noon with the winner advancing to the round of sixteen from May 9-12 in Kansas City, Mo.

"Kutztown is a tough team," said Porowski. "We saw them during the fall and they are all very good singles players. I think we can steal some points in doubles and see what happens."

Franklin Pierce enters the NCAA's with a 15-11 overall record and ranked second in the Northeast-10 Conference regular season standings with a 10-2 clip. The Ravens were upended by Bryant College in the NE-10 semifinal round last weekend.

Franklin Pierce is led by first team All-Northeast-10 performer Art Shannon (Danvers, Mass./Danvers). The junior has posted a 16-5 overall record this season, including a perfect 11-0 clip during Conference play.

The Ravens No. 2 doubles team of juniors Michael Hoffner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) and Ricky Sanford (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) earned second team All-Conference honors this season. The duo posted a 19-6 overall record and an 11-2 mark in NE-10 action this spring.

Sanford also boasts a 14-10 overall mark in singles play (10-4 NE-10) while splitting time between No. 2-4 singles. He is 5-0 at the No. 2 slot this spring. Freshman Maciej Szpakowski (Cutchogue, N.Y./Mattituck) has also been a big part of the Ravens success this season. He is 11-9 overall after going 8-3 in Conference play while splitting time at No. 3 and No. 4 singles.